Pages

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

1 + 1 = 11

I was really going to just not come up with the other ten things and hope you wouldn't notice, but of course you would do something like this.

Thank you, because I needed that.

So here you are:

1. One of the strongest memories (read: ‘visuals’
because the context is unclear so I’m not sure if that really classifies as a
‘memory’) I have from my pre-age-10 youth is of my older brother putting a bug
into an empty peanut butter jar. I don’t remember what kind of bug it was, but
this was significant to me because A) I felt sorry for the bug – somehow I felt
like I understood the sacrifice of space and freedom it was giving up by no
choice of its own; and B) It was in a peanut butter jar – for a very short
period my mother put a ban on peanut butter because we would go through it so
fast, and ever since peanut butter has become akin to manna for me. Sacred,
perfect, hits the spot every time. The contrast of a bug in a holy jar…it was
(and still is, obviously?) mind blowing.

2. I deeply crave this anthology. Norton
Anthologies generally rock my socks, so to have one for children’s lit? My
heart hurts to think about it. Someday when we have more money than we do now,
I will buy this book. I may be 50+ by then, but maybe I can read it to my
grandchildren, eh?

3. When I was, oh, 13-ish? Give or take
a few years? A distant relative at a funeral suggested I get into step aerobics
to lose my baby fat. It wasn’t unusual for people to comment about my chub
(even though in retrospect I don’t think I was even that chubby) ever since I
can remember, so commonly I took it with a grain of salt, but the fact that
someone would bring it up at a funeral really got my goat. I unconsciously
resolved from that moment on to stay slightly over-weight for the rest of my
life. To live a full, happy, healthy life regardless of my shape/size. I still
have issues from time to time about what I look like compared to others, but I
try to remind myself of that funeral, and how life is about far more than just
image.

Me around age 13

4. I store a lot of my tension between
my shoulder blades. I’ve always got a knot there, regardless of how much I
kneed, stretch, or try to relax those muscles. But meh. I can think of worse
places to hang on to tension.

5. Deadlines are key for me to get
things done. If someone tells me there’s no rush, I take that at face value and
don’t rush. A month, two months, six months later…oh, that’s right. Maybe I
should get around to that.

6. I laughed during the push-part of
Beta’s labor. My midwife looked at me with a stern face and told me to be
serious. The thing was, up until that point I had been freaking out because
Alpha’s labor was over-the-top horrible. So my laughter was a release. It was
my moment of recognition that things were going to be okay this time around.

7. We have a ship hanging from our ceiling. The boys love it. Hubs loves it.
I love it.

Our sky ship

8. I almost majored in Art/Illustration
instead of English/Literature and I very much wonder what my life would be like
if I’d gone down that path instead. I’m very happy with the place I’m in, in
this moment, but I still wonder.

9. It’s a blue moon when I hear this
song now, and usually in really random places, but every time I do it still
brings a lump to my throat. I played the viola in the Boise Youth Philharmonic
for just one season and the Jurassic Park Theme was one of the songs we played.
It may not be all that thrilling to listen to? I don’t know. But it was
thrilling to play.

10. And two for the price of one: when I
first met Hubs he had these big bushy chops that came down nearly to his chin I absolutely adored; momo’s are
one of my top three favorite foods and coincidentally I had them for dinner the
night I met Hubs. This seems important for some reason I can’t put my finger
on.

There now, I've spilled a bunch of beans. Your turn -- tell me something about yourself in the comments that I probably don't know. Some detail about your youth, your love, the way you see yourself, something you're embarrassed about or proud of...these are just suggestions.

16 comments:

Loved it all! I have actually sat here for a few minutes trying to think of something fabulous, and profound to tell about my life. I don't actually have anything. So instead I will share this: I don't know that I will ever be able to fully understand who I am. I think there are certain parts of myself that are locked away from even me by providential design. Finding those parts, attempting to solve my own puzzle is really what makes me me. If I wasn't searching, I wouldn't really know what to do so I am grateful at least for the journey. Also, I have an irrational fear of sharks in the toilet bowl.

People always thought I was older than my age, but the funny thing was, since I'm an August baby I was always youngest in my class. People would sign themselves out of school who looked two or three years my junior, but I graduated when I was still 17 so I never got to. Obviously I'm still irked by this :)

Isn't it sad that it's usually our relatives who make the overweight comments that stick with us? I'm sorry. I think every girl has at least one of these stories, but it's always sad to hear about it.

And you can fingerspell that fast? I can't imagine it, but I love this. Love it.

Right, I want that book, overweight...seriously....huh? sorry don't get that comment from your relative! I am fantastic at giving shoulder rubs and why not laugh during labour?!? It is the happiest and most magical part of life! How amazing is your ship?? you played the viola in a philharmonic orchestra?? and you can remember such fabulous deatils about meetng hubs! I loved all of it :-D

Me...I live in constant fear that the people who mean the world to me will suddenly wake up and realise they don't like me after all and leave me all alone! How sad is it that this is the only thing about me I haven't blabbed on the blog or when chatting with you ;-)

I just knew you would love the anthology as much as I do. That makes me smile. Huge smile.

And I know what you mean about that specific fear. It happens -- maybe not over night, but for reasons I don't understand -- so I get you. At the same time, the constant fear helps us recognize the gift of daily love, eh? Because we know it may not always be there, each day we have it is that much more blessed.

"Norton anthologies are my crack"...Yes. This is what I really meant to say, though at the time I couldn't find the words.

And I don't know about confident. It just doesn't get much better than pictures in our early teens, does it? The best part is that at the time the thought went along the lines of, "Oh yeah, I'm totally rockin' this dress..." Or whatever wicked hairstyle/outfit we had on.

Wow, Deb. You are super deep. I'm not. You may or may not have known that about me. I can be (I think), but it's not my natural state.

I would guess that I carry my tension in my head, since real stress gives me migraines. But I don't really stress often.

Something about me? I almost changed my major to Geology 3/4 of the way through a Linguistics degree because I took the intro class and LOVED it. Rocks, right? Who knew? Anyway, the only reason I didn't was because it required a lot of math classes and because of my ACT score I hadn't taken any, so I didn't want to take the time to catch up.

Caitlyn! I've missed your voice! And you may say you're not deep, but I've read your stuff, and where you might joke about it just being a rollicking adventure I see all this beautiful depth and meaning that makes me sit back and think. So perhaps it comes more naturally to you than you realize, eh?

I like rocks too, now that you mention it. Math sucks, though, so I see why you didn't switch. Math can keep me from doing pretty much anything.

I don't know where you get a ceiling ship -- Hubs just came home with it one afternoon and it's been hanging out there ever since. It's amazing how much more fun things generally are when they're suspended from the ceiling. Chairs. Doorknobs. You know...the usual unusual. You should try it.